Gunmen kill rancher, hurt wife

Sunday August 25 2013

In Summary

By Sunday afternoon detectives investigating the murder had arrested a suspect from a nearby village. He was arrested after police mounted a major operation in the neighbouring areas using sniffer dogs.

A Laikipia rancher of British descent was Sunday morning killed and his wife hurt.

Hooded gunmen raided his house at Magutu area in Daiga division about 1am where Mr David Parkinson and wife Sonja were asleep and slashed them with machetes.

Until his death, Mr Parkinson was the general manager of the nearby Loldaiga ranch in Laikipia East district but lived out of the ranch which rears cattle.Area police boss Marius Tum said the five-member gang entered the couple’s bedroom by breaking a glass door using a huge stone. They ordered the couple to hand over their firearm and all their money.“One of the gang members was armed with a pistol, another with a machete while the rest had crude weapons. While one of them was terrorizing Mr Parkinson the others tied his wife’s hands with ropes,” Mr Tum said.However, Ms Parkinson who had sustained a cut on her back managed to untie herself and escape to a nearby store where she hid herself until the gangsters left.

On returning to the main house she found the blood-soaked body of her husband sprawled on the floor, lifeless.

Police said the rancher had a deep cut on the upper side of his left hand but ruled out having been shot despite detectives recovering a bullet head in the house.

Mr Tum said a post-mortem would be conducted on the body to determine the actual cause of his death.

By Sunday afternoon detectives investigating the murder had arrested a suspect from a nearby village. He was arrested after police mounted a major operation in the neighbouring areas using sniffer dogs.